I stripped off the flesh mask, peeled away the red, full lips, the long transformation.
"I've done it. Others will do it, too. Not breeders—not brainless ornaments to a hyper-nymphoid phallus! Just ordinary men. Ordinary men with a dream. You can't keep the sky for yourselves. It belongs to all of us."
I stood with my back to the blazing stars and laughed at them.
"In the beginning it was right that you should be given priority over us. For centuries we kept you in subjection and when the Age of Space came, you found your place. Your stamina, your small stature, everything about you fitted you to be mistresses of the sky....
"But it's over. Over and done with. We can all be free—"
I peeled away the artificial breasts that dangled from my chest.
I stood swaying drunkenly, defiantly.
They came to me, then. They took me gently and carried me below, to the comfort of a white bunk. They soothed my hurts and nursed me. For in spite of it all, they were women and I was a man in pain.